Hospital Stay  KakaShika  Wilson
by Pickleweasel1208
Summary: Kakashi is in the hospital with his lover Shikamaru by his side as they worry for Kakashi's life.


A/N - This is the response to the prompt "How about _ mistaking _ for his lover" from a crossover meme. I decided to go with a pairing I was enjoying at the momet, Kakashi/Shikamaru, and was in the mood to write something a bit darker than the other drabbles from the meme.

Hospital Stay

Kakashi groaned in the hospital bed, his head and left eye aching. A nurse had already upped his morphine close to the maximum allowed by Dr. Wilson. The CAT scan had confirmed the worst – there was a large tumor on the left frontal lobe of Kakashi's brain.

Kakashi's lover had been concerned about the older man's frequent headaches, and when they got so bad that Kakashi passed out, Shikamaru had insisted upon taking him to the hospital. Shika was always matter-of-fact, and had told Kakashi it could be anything from stress headaches to cancer. And within two days of the pair arriving at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, they learned that it was the latter.

In the days at the hospital, before and after the diagnosis, Shika had stayed by Kakashi's bedside, only leaving to get food, relieve himself, and go home occasionally to shower and change clothes. Most of the time, he read Icha-Icha aloud to Kakashi, who insisted upon it despite the headaches and the explicit nature of the books having the potential to bother Kakashi's roommate. The old man in the next bed hadn't minded though, and actually enjoyed Kakashi's taste in literature. So Shika read to his lover and the old man. When Kakashi had enough mental energy, he and Shikamaru played shogi without a board, both of them sharp enough to remember where the pieces were in their minds.

Kakashi was grateful for his lover's patience. He knew that Shikamaru was easily bored, and that the younger man was probably in as much mental agony as Kakashi was in physical pain. He stopped Shika in his reading now and then to say thank you, and the younger man simply squeezed Kakashi's hand and smiled at him.

And now, Kakashi was biting his lip with eyes closed. Dr. Wilson had come by an hour before to tell Kakashi and Shikamaru that it would be too dangerous to operate, and that chemotherapy and radiation might be able to eradicate the tumor. But the chances of that were slim, and the prognosis was not good. Two months, on the outside. Two months of this excruciating pain. Kakashi didn't know if he could live with it, and he didn't want to burden Shika by being useless during his last days due to pain.

Kakashi heard footfalls coming toward him, then felt a presence next to the bed. A warm hand came to rest on his shoulder. He didn't open his eyes. "Hurts," he said. The hand squeezed gently, offering reassurance.

"I don't want to die," Kakashi said weakly, eyes still closed. "But I don't know if I can live like this. So much pain. The treatment… it probably won't work. And I don't want you to spend two months waiting on me, you deserve better than that. Go home, let the doctors take care of me. If I die, I want you to move on. If I survive, I'll come back home to you and fuck you senseless, just like before." He choked out the next words. "I love you."

"You may want to wait until your boyfriend gets back to say that," Wilson said.

Kakashi's eyes snapped open and he stared with embarrassment into the face of the smiling doctor. He felt warmth prickling in his cheeks and silently cursed himself for being so careless.

"But from what I can tell," Wilson continued, ignoring Kakashi's blush, "the man loves you and won't take kindly to you telling him to get lost." The doctor took his hand off Kakashi's shoulder and dialed up the morphine a notch. "Try to get some rest. Shikamaru went to get another one of your books from your house, and I'm sure he'd love to read it to you when he gets back." He squeezed Kakashi's shoulder again and left before the gray-haired man could respond.

Kakashi sighed. Wilson was right; no way in hell would Shika leave Kakashi alone. The younger man was too stubborn. So Kakashi would get the treatment, and thank the universe every day for the fact that he had a lover as dedicated as Shikamaru.


End file.
